I Saw the TV Glow Writer-Director Jane Schoenbrun to Publish Debut Queer Horror Novel, Public Access Afterworld
The book arrives this October, following Schoenbrun’s third film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
by Alex Kaan 20 April 2026
A24
Penguin Random House have announced the release date for Jane Schoenbrun’s debut novel, Public Access Afterworld.
When a trans content moderator stumbles across videos about a surreal pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld, she must uncover a decades-long mystery and fight to survive in this horror/conspiracy genre mash-up.
Releasing October 27th, Public Access Afterworld will conclude Jane Schoenbrun’s “Screen Trilogy”, a series exploring trans identity through TV and computer screens. The novel is preceded by the films We’re All Going to the World’s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow.
Ahead of the novel, Jane Schoenbrun will release their third film, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. Premiering at Cannes before an August release, the queer slasher stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.
Read the full synopsis of Public Access Afterworld below.
At 5:35pm on September 3rd, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray “Can You Say Sunshine” Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.
On June 12th, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin’s basement to watch TV’s analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld and their lives are changed forever.
Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill’s bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.
But what is Public Access Afterworld?
Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds, especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times, Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. A mesmerizing mashup of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, it marks the arrival of a major new force in contemporary fiction by a groundbreaking filmmaker who’s been compared to David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson.